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Fastest way... go go go

This method requires the "kvm" program be installed on your system, e.g. in /usr/bin. That may not be the case, for example, in CentOS or other flavors of Linux, even with the full KVM virtualization hooks and tools installed. But if you are lucky:

Download and unzip the Default VM build of the TurnKeyLinux image you want

Run in a terminal:

kvm -drive file=myVMfile.vmdk

The "kvm" program is closely related to "qemu". See also [http://wiki.qemu.org/Manual] and you might find shortcuts there on a similar method for a quick start.

More permanent deployment using Libvirt

Libvirt is a virtualization api. The libvirt daemon is a good virtual machine manager, eg. it makes sure that machines start on host boot (if selected) and generally works as a control panel for all your virtual machines.

In Ubuntu install the package libvirt-bin to run the daemon.

You can connect to the libvirt daemon with one of the many libvirt clients. Popular options are: